Supreme Court Rules Obamacare Subsidies Are Legal

Supporters of the Affordable Care Act cheer outside the Supreme Court on Thursday after justices upheld the law’s subsidies.

Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Landov

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Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Landov

Supporters of the Affordable Care Act cheer outside the Supreme Court on Thursday after justices upheld the law’s subsidies.

Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Landov

Updated at 10:21 a.m. ET

The Supreme Court today handed the Obama administration a major victory on health care, ruling 6-3 that nationwide subsidies called for in the Affordable Care Act are legal.

“Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them,” the court’s majority said in the opinion, which was written by Chief Justice John Roberts. But they acknowledged that “petitioners’ arguments about the plain meaning … are strong.”